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Austin -- We are losing this place

DalTxHornFan

By DalTxHornFan
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Macanudo
Macanudo

True story....   I lived in an apartment on Nueces right where it splits off of Guadalupe there where Ken's was and Dirty's is for a year my junior year (91-92.)   I ate a shit ton of both.   But the

Biff Tannen
Biff Tannen

I went into Ken's one night on mushrooms and when I went to get water from the fountain the lever stuck and I couldn't figure out how to make it stop so water was just pouring out all over the floor a

jimmyjazz
jimmyjazz

We went to Dan's because of this thread.  Cheeseburger, fries, onion rings and milk shakes.  I'm gonna die Elvis Presley style on the shitter.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45211

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I mostly went to Trudy's for pre-game, sometimes post-game.  Pre-game could lead to breakfast, if it was an early kickoff.  A lot of it depended on where we could park.  Crown & Anchor was the preference for gameday food, but there ain't nothing wrong with a plate of migas and a Mexican martini.  And, eye candy.

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19445

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I always thought some software builder could come up with like a WikiSims deal of Central Austin.  And people could add to a particular block the business(es) that were there during a certain time period.  You could hover over a block and see what it was in the 60's, 70's, etc.  People could correct them if they were off on the years like crowd-sourcing.  So you could basically roam around block by block in 1994 or 1983 or 1965 or in Brat's case-1883.  You don't even have to get into deed/title records, you get 1000 random Austinites who've been here for a few decades...they could recall the city block by block in a matter of hours.  That'd be fun rabbit hole to go down to play around with that on your screen.  

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45211

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The amount of beer I drank at Nasty's and Austin Outhouse is, in hindsight, embarassing. 

It sure wasn't embarassing at the time.

Oh, and Sunday Dollar Beer Night at Angles didn't suck.  It wasn't $1 per beer.  It was $1 for all the beer you could drink.  I should not be alive.

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justhookit

justhookit 4167

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3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

The amount of beer I drank at Nasty's and Austin Outhouse is, in hindsight, embarassing. 

It sure wasn't embarassing at the time.

Oh, and Sunday Dollar Beer Night at Angles didn't suck.  It wasn't $1 per beer.  It was $1 for all the beer you could drink.  I should not be alive.

Where was Austin Outhouse? You must have been in school a little before me. I started in ‘89.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 103656

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The amount of beer I drank at Nasty's and Austin Outhouse is, in hindsight, embarassing. 
It sure wasn't embarassing at the time.
Oh, and Sunday Dollar Beer Night at Angles didn't suck.  It wasn't $1 per beer.  It was $1 for all the beer you could drink.  I should not be alive.

Everclear ritas at Nasty’s after IM football was a law school thing.
I remember a group of us sitting around a table, shithammered, debating the proper usages and differences between the words nekkid, naked, and nude. It got heated. After a pause, one of my buddies says “you know, Harvard got it right when it denied all of us admission.”
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Liquor and Poker

Liquor and Poker 3659

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When I moved from Dallas to Houston in 2018, the biggest single thing I noticed was just how much more crowded everything is here - roads, stores, restaurants, everything just has more people.  
 

This summer I spent a week working in downtown Austin.  I hadn’t really spent time downtown there other than weekends in a decade and a half.  It felt more crowded than Houston walking down Congress and driving between Lamar and Congress. It was shocking. 

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ztejas

ztejas 42819

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47 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

This summer I spent a week working in downtown Austin.  I hadn’t really spent time downtown there other than weekends in a decade and a half.  It felt more crowded than Houston walking down Congress and driving between Lamar and Congress. It was shocking. 

It's one of the biggest tourist destinations in the US. 

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ztejas

ztejas 42819

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8 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

These were not tourists.  These were young adults in work clothes mostly.  A few packs of dudes rocking Bird scooters but mostly people getting things done. 
 

And an enormous number of homeless, of course.  

If you were here in the summer and hanging out downtown and around south Congress then I promise you there were plenty of tourists or people in from out of town for whatever reason. 

That isn't to say the people that live in Austin aren't out and about themselves but it's absolutely exacerbated by visitors. 

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19445

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Was also at that Ween show.  Otherwise, we do not appear to have much crossover interest in music aside from the crooning wonders of a Mister Robert Goulet.  

Man, a buddy co-developed Music Lane on South Congress and I've seen bits and pieces of it here and there.  But family and I walked everything from Riverside to Magnolia Cafe, on both sides on Saturday.  I drive it all the time, but we popped in a buncha places since the business association was giving out candy to kids in costume.  Go walk the whole thing on foot and peer in everywhere.  It's so much more wildly different than you think.  If we're honest, we don't miss much of it.  Places like Jo's, Magnolia Cafe, continental Club.  I'll still miss those places when they're gone though, and we try and frequent them at least a few times per year (kinda got messed up with Covid obviously).  

Something that stood out to me, I lived in Travis Heights for 4 years way back when (two years in the State House apartments and then two years in a townhouse/condo deeper into the 'hood).  While the girls were eating candy and people watching, I walked the whole perimeter of what's left of the state house (they tore the NW buildings down years ago to make way for part of Music Lane).  It is in utter disrepair.  Balconies and staircases rotting away, no landscaping, common spaces falling apart, etc.  It was at one point a low-A property.  But you can tell after a few minutes, no new upkeep, barebones deferred maintenance, vacancies not bothering to be filled.  Not that it's an icon we'll miss, but I'm guessing it's giving up its dirt and ground-leasing to expand that whole mixed-use development around there.  That whole batshit crazy dense area is gonna get even more crowded.  

Also, what the fuck?  I counted 5 eyeglass stores over 4 city blocks  .

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45211

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14 hours ago, YGIFS said:

Go walk the whole thing on foot and peer in everywhere.  It's so much more wildly different than you think.  If we're honest, we don't miss much of it.  Places like Jo's, Magnolia Cafe, continental Club.  I'll still miss those places when they're gone though, and we try and frequent them at least a few times per year (kinda got messed up with Covid obviously).  

For 10 years I owned a house on Nickerson, right behind the fire station.  I loved the neighborhood, but the hoary cheeseiness of the trinket shops wore on me.  I always hoped Congress would get a facelift.

And then, it turned into the Domain.

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YGIFS

YGIFS 19445

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apt description.  To be fair, South Congress has managed to retain a little bit of the original architecture, vibe, facades, local establishment flavor.  But yeah it went from a den of iniquity for decades to kind of a happy medium in the 2000's and front half of 2010's.......but it's just "Eclectic Domain South" nowadays it seems.  Having said that, the eye candy and yoga ass party this past weekend was quite the scene...

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11414

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This was posted in the Burgers thread, but it's apt here as well. Highland Lanes might be bought and demo'd.

https://austin.towers.net/with-dart-bowl-bound-for-demolition-highland-lanes-could-redevelop-next/

I'm a bowler. I've been in bowling leagues for nearly 20 years. This is really bad for people that like bowling. This means Westgate Lanes will be the last real bowling alley in Austin. If you're a league bowler at Highland, it might be tough to find a place at any of the leagues at Westgate. And that means that Westgate is going to have to make the decision to expand their leagues and basically leave no open lanes for casual bowlers during the evenings, or reduce leagues so they can make more money off casual bowlers. To be honest, I'm not sure what brings in more money. I would think leagues because league bowlers because they have leagues every night but Saturdays. And league bowlers tend to drink much more than casual bowlers. But casual bowlers pay a shit load more to bowl than league bowlers. who knows. 

I guess people can bowl at shitty family-fun places like Main Event, or "adult entertainment" joints like Punch Bowl Social. But it's really not the same. I'm worries that the old-school bowling alley's days are numbered. 

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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I was at the 98 Fugazi show. And I think I was at the Helmet/Melvins show. Not sure. Went to a lot of shows back in those days. 
Patricio likes himself some Rollins. 

Rollins was a pretty big influence on me in my late teens into college. Used to have all the spoken word releases. I still think The End of Silence and Weight are amazing albums.
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ftf82

ftf82 481

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, irishtexan said:

This was posted in the Burgers thread, but it's apt here as well. Highland Lanes might be bought and demo'd.

https://austin.towers.net/with-dart-bowl-bound-for-demolition-highland-lanes-could-redevelop-next/

I'm a bowler. I've been in bowling leagues for nearly 20 years. This is really bad for people that like bowling. This means Westgate Lanes will be the last real bowling alley in Austin. If you're a league bowler at Highland, it might be tough to find a place at any of the leagues at Westgate. And that means that Westgate is going to have to make the decision to expand their leagues and basically leave no open lanes for casual bowlers during the evenings, or reduce leagues so they can make more money off casual bowlers. To be honest, I'm not sure what brings in more money. I would think leagues because league bowlers because they have leagues every night but Saturdays. And league bowlers tend to drink much more than casual bowlers. But casual bowlers pay a shit load more to bowl than league bowlers. who knows. 

I guess people can bowl at shitty family-fun places like Main Event, or "adult entertainment" joints like Punch Bowl Social. But it's really not the same. I'm worries that the old-school bowling alley's days are numbered. 

Used to bowl in a league at Dart Bowl back in the day (or whatever the place on Grover was called before it was Dart Bowl, when Dart Bowl was up on north Burnet). I've always wanted to bowl at Saengerrunde. Looks like they have leagues. Anyone ever checked it out?

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45211

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40 minutes ago, ftf82 said:

Used to bowl in a league at Dart Bowl back in the day (or whatever the place on Grover was called before it was Dart Bowl, when Dart Bowl was up on north Burnet). I've always wanted to bowl at Saengerrunde. Looks like they have leagues. Anyone ever checked it out?

My starter wife and I had our reception at Saengerrunde, but we didn't pony up for the bowling alley due to "budget constraints".

Imagine my surprise when, halfway through the reception she got up on the bandstand and brought out my bowling gear.  She had rented the bowling alley.  It was awesome, the whole reception went back there and took turns, probably 150 people on what, 4 lanes?

The marriage didn't last, regardless.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 103656

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My starter wife and I had our reception at Saengerrunde, but we didn't pony up for the bowling alley due to "budget constraints".
Imagine my surprise when, halfway through the reception she got up on the bandstand and brought out my bowling gear.  She had rented the bowling alley.  It was awesome, the whole reception went back there and took turns, probably 150 people on what, 4 lanes?
The marriage didn't last, regardless.

In college, there was a girl I had a pretty good crush on (we were both in some sorta Plan II leadership thing, I don’t remember what it was). After some meeting at Scholz, we stayed there and drank. We were having a great old time. But closing time came, and we weren’t ready to shut it down. I see the door to Saengerrunde is propped open, but had no idea what the place was. I stick my head in, and see some old dudes sitting around drinking beer from a keg - I ask “so…are y’all open?” Old guy says “we’re not a bar, we’re a private club. But come on in!” So, the gal and I end up sitting around drinking beer and laughing with the old dudes till 3:00.
And no, I never closed the deal with her because I was a stupid pussy-ass idiot.
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zlavydra

zlavydra 2110

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On 10/31/2022 at 10:56 AM, irishtexan said:

I was at the 98 Fugazi show. And I think I was at the Helmet/Melvins show. Not sure. Went to a lot of shows back in those days. 

Patricio likes himself some Rollins. 

I think I saw Fugazi at Liberty Lunch in the early 90s. I definitely saw Soundgarden, Soul Asylum, GWAR, Agony Column and a bunch of others there. Now I'm wondering if I kept the ticket stubs.

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chainsaw

chainsaw 9668

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On 11/11/2022 at 9:19 PM, Brisketexan said:


In college, there was a girl I had a pretty good crush on (we were both in some sorta Plan II leadership thing, I don’t remember what it was). After some meeting at Scholz, we stayed there and drank. We were having a great old time. But closing time came, and we weren’t ready to shut it down. I see the door to Saengerrunde is propped open, but had no idea what the place was. I stick my head in, and see some old dudes sitting around drinking beer from a keg - I ask “so…are y’all open?” Old guy says “we’re not a bar, we’re a private club. But come on in!” So, the gal and I end up sitting around drinking beer and laughing with the old dudes till 3:00.
And no, I never closed the deal with her because I was a stupid pussy-ass idiot.

This is old Austin. Would never happen today.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 103656

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FB_IMG_1671283945800.jpg.a0f6719e3353fc8474af1fef59aa684f.jpg

Fucking hell.

My wife was at dinner last night with two colleagues, one of whom is moving away to NC. They actually toasted Texas Monthly for giving Austin the Bum Steer. A whole lot of “we’re over this place” conversation. I mean, at some point - maybe a point we’ve passed already - what makes this city anything special or unique? So we’ve got 500 new fancy restaurants. So what? Houston has great restaurants, and some of theirs are actually local, affordable, and authentic. Austin traffic is officially the worst in the state. Austin remains high on its own supply, and has just about killed everything that made it special. Yay.
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texasdago

texasdago 7465

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Just feels like old Austin is very personal and it cycles through.  To some Matt's El Rancho typifies old Austin and in my on/off years since 1989, I've never been once.  Am I missing out?  Maybe. 

I was sad when I saw Dry Creek close but, honestly, I had been back two times since I graduated.  And sometimes we fail to acknowledge that some of these places survived miraculously.  How did a dump like Dry Creek survive in that area?  

Overy time you find your new places. Sam's Town Point is far from new but now it's new to me and I love it.  Far Out Lounge is less than five years old and yet it perfectly encapsulates Old Austin.  Cosmos Coffee and Radio are new but fit perfectly into the Old Austin fabric.

BTW, all the restaurants we've loved over time are the drastic exception, not the rule.

https://www.perrygroup.com/foodservice-expert-overview-on-how-long-restaurants-last/

 

PS - The Woo was a dump 33 years ago.

 

Edited by texasdago
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4th&Five

4th&Five 41245

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4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:


Fucking hell.

My wife was at dinner last night with two colleagues, one of whom is moving away to NC. They actually toasted Texas Monthly for giving Austin the Bum Steer. A whole lot of “we’re over this place” conversation. I mean, at some point - maybe a point we’ve passed already - what makes this city anything special or unique? So we’ve got 500 new fancy restaurants. So what? Houston has great restaurants, and some of theirs are actually local, affordable, and authentic. Austin traffic is officially the worst in the state. Austin remains high on its own supply, and has just about killed everything that made it special. Yay.

I don’t disagree with any of this but I’ve traveled a lot in this country and have maybe found one or two cities I would consider leaving for. My wife would never live anywhere that gets too cold either, so that limits us. 

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Bozo_Casanova

Bozo_Casanova 25909

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2 hours ago, YGIFS said:

I can't tell by that article nor those renderings, exactly which blocks are these 70-100 homes?  

and I wouldn't sweat it, this is 5 years away from even thinking of happening.  They'll be plenty of time to cash out handsomely.  

It's mostly beloved local businesses, like Dreamers and Chicas Bonitas!

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